'In this important book, Koichi shimokawa presents new insights into the reasons for Japan's automotive industry success and describes crucial phases of its development. Looking ahead into the future of the industiry, he makes a powerful argument for a turn towards ecological sustainability. A masterpiece by the doyen of Japan's academic automotive research community!'.

The Japanese automotive industry enjoyed spectacular success in the 1980s. This was largely due to the so-called 'Lean Production System' - the combination of an efficient production system, an effective supplier system, and a product development system. In the 1990s the industry fell on hard times because of the Japanese asset price bubble and extreme currency appreciation. In this book, eminent industry specialist Koichi Shimokawa draws on his thirty years of research and fieldwork with Japanese and American firms to show how the Japanese automotive industry has managed to recover from this difficult period. He shows how firms like Toyota were able to transfer Japanese systems to overseas plants and how they have changed in order to compete in increasingly globalized markets. In addition, the book addresses the two major challenges to the current industry model: the rise of China and the environmental and energy supply situation.

L'autrice, forte dei suoi mezzi comunicativi e dotata di una profondità manifesta, crea un lavoro di ampio respiro, completo, che si muove su fronti differenti: va da poesie estremamente sintetiche, di un paio di versi, a componimenti lunghi, sperimenta la parola, così come la sua posizione, la differenzia anche graficamente, giungendo alla genesi di una raccolta che non appare incompiuta sotto nessun punto di vista. A coronamento di ciò, la parte finale dell'antologia è composta da sei brevi racconti, in cui l'autrice si mette alla prova in uno stile prosastico, pervenendo, anche qui, a risultati di notevole rilevanza.

Cinque ragazzi e tre ragazze vincono un concorso per partecipare a un viaggio di due mesi in alto mare in barca a vela. Non tutti sono contenti. Lucille, per esempio, vorrebbe tornare a casa: è convinta di essere una fifona incapace. Ma sarà proprio lei a prendere il comando e a salvare l'equipaggio quando il veliero, dopo una terribile tempesta, viene attaccato dalla Cosa, un mostro marino mai visto. Età di lettura: da 10 anni.

They got married ten days ago. They haven't had sex yet and they don't intend to.

As it turned out, the only way to make their parents get off their backs about trying to "find someone" was actually finding somone--with whom to put marriage for show. Mutsuki is stictly gay and has a boyfriend, while Shoko is a clinical case of emotional instability who's in no shape for a relationship. They've each found in the other a perfect partner for a sham marriage. Since the conspirators' parents know of their own child's undesirability, but not the spouse's, the union manages to please them. And while the newlyweds hope, in their own way, to live happily ever after, they inevitably come face t o face with the fact that no marriage real or staged, is a fairy tale.